𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝟒 𝐔 | 𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐚𝐮

EIGHT

richard bowen
nini?
are you okay?

nini
i'm okay
thanks ricky :)

richard bowen
are you sure?
call me if you need

the girl smiled slightly at her phone as tears stained her face. she sat alone in her room on the window seat watching the sun set and the wind blow through the trees. nini had decided to leave the boy on open, even though she knew it could cause the boy more worried.

nini took the time to reflect on not only her mom yelling at her for being with a boy and that her grades will drop dramatically if she continues hanging out with boys, but also the fact that ricky was actually caring about her. her mind was rather jumbled at the fact that they were enemies two days ago and now he is being rather protective of her. 

her fingers strummed softly over her guitar strings for the next hour until her mom interrupted her with a loud knock on her bedroom door. "yeah," she softly says, unsure of what mom was about to enter. her shoulders fell in relief when she saw that it was momma d.

"hey sweetie," her mom enters slowly, softly closing the door behind her. the girl gives her a closed-lipped smile before turning her gaze back out the window. "are you okay, honey?" nini doesn't answer her question as she sees her out of the corner of her eye sitting across from her on the window seat. "nina." momma d says sternly.

"what, mom!" her voice cracks as she makes eye contact with her mother in front of her. momma d's head leans to one side slightly as her jaw clenches. tears form in nini's eyes once again as she now looks down. 

"nina, we are just looking out for you and your future, you know that right?" her mom uses a calm voice, trying not to anger the small girl in-front of her again. nini takes a deep breath in trying to snap at her mom again.

"mom, i don't care about my future at the moment." she stares at her mom blankly. "i just want to live in the moment for once." she fiddles with her fingernails, her coping mechanism when she is nervous. 

"nina, we care about you."

"i just don't get why you care so much when i am in a 1 metre distance from a boy!" she cuts her off, speaking her feelings. tears now fall down her face. "i just want to live for once. you have me under these stupid strict rules when you aren't even in the town most of the time." nini watches her mom shift uncomfortably, avoiding any eye contact with her daughter. "your leaving again, aren't you?"

"we have a last minute business meet-" nini scoffs, rolling her eyes. "nina. don't cut me off like that." she frowns at her daughters behaviour. 

"look just leave now," she looks out the window at the darkness. "i'll see you in a few days i suppose." nini stays silent despite the fact that her mom is bombarding her with questions. she ends up giving up and leaving her.

"i love you." momma d says before she shuts the door, leaving nini alone in her dark bedroom. the girl breaks down into tears, placing her head in her hands. she manages to type into her friend group chat if any one of them are free at the moment. 

kourt and carlos had tutoring, gina had her extended family around for dinner and ashlyn simply did not reply. 30 minutes later, after staring blankly at the wall in front of her, she heard the front door to her house close, echoing through-out the whole house. her lips started to shake as tears poured back into her eyes for the third time tonight. 

the girl put an oversized hoodie on over her small body, heading downstairs making her way to the front door. she swipes her set of house keys off of the side table that stood next to the door, locking the door before she set off down her street.

if you hadn't caught on already, nini was making her way to her new friends house a couple streets across from her. she knew that it was probably going to be shock to him when he finds her stood at his front door, but in this moment she didn't care, she just wanted someone to talk to and coincidentally ricky was the only person available, she assumed.

nini was now stood in front of the bowen household door, putting a small, but harsh knock on it. the door swings open to reveal lynne.

"oh! nini!" she exclaims, clearly shocked to see nina salazar-roberts standing at her front door at 8pm on a wednesday night. lynne's facial expressions soften as she sees that nini's eyes are bloodshot and a sad smile is plastered across her face. "oh, come in, darling." lynne opens the door wider, welcoming the sad girl into her home. "ricky! nini is here!" she shouts through the house and almost immediately following, ricky comes downstairs. 

"nini." he breathes as he sees the state of her.

"hi." she stands awkwardly in front of him, her hands fiddling with each other. ricky tells her to follow him upstairs, where he lead her to his bedroom, for the second time today. "i'm sorry for showing up." her voice is quiet. "i had no where else to go." 

"you know you are more than welcome here." he softly smiles at her as they both take a seat on his double bed, an appropriate distance away. "are you okay, nini?" he asks, unsure of what her answer could be.

"my moms," her gaze set on the pattern of his duvet. "i swear they have it out for me." a slight chuckle leaves her mouth. "it's like they forbid me from having fun." she looks up at the boy, who is giving her a sympathetic look. "don't look at me like that." she continues to maintain eye contact with him.

"like what?" he questions her.

"your trying to be sympathetic."

"well of course i am, nini, it looks like you have been crying for 5 hours straight."

"maybe only 4 hours." she shrugs. the boy sighs. "they yelled at me for hanging out with you, and now because i have my grades are going to drop so significantly." she scoffs as she imitates her mothers. "why can't they just want the best for me?" her voice cracks as she starts to cry again.

"come here." ricky holds his arms out for her, offering a hug. she falls into his arms, resting her head on his chest as he strokes her back. "it's okay." he whispers in her ear.